Chapter1 (Shao'f)
Rain trickled down from the verdant mosses of the bright, crystalized cavern. Shao'f watched the heavy rain clouds rolling in the sky. The weather was calm and promising before but it was fickle and changed like the illura priest's dying hope. Rain droplets fell from the sky and hit the ground like exploding bombs of crystals. The priest felt bleak and as if the bursting raindrops were her hopes of surviving. She was an illura after all and her race need sunlight and food to live. Shao'f had had no hot meals since she came to this human world. She had to eat mushrooms and potatoes since illuras do not eat meat. The humans preferred meat and vegetables were rare. She recalled the fresh, green, delicious cabbages that she had eaten at her home world; Terra-mina the plants itself were alive unlike the whitish plants on the human planet. Terra-mina was filled with living trees and the vivid sunlight streaming down from eight different suns. The mother priest herself had sent Shao'f to the new human world-Pluros, to send treelings to the blue planet. Shao'f had no parents left. Both of them were killed in the sinorue's attack on the world forest. Her father, Jeo'f sacrificed his own life as a kamikaze in an attempt to destroy the war globes with an impact of a human spaceship provided by the Hansa chairman for the illuras to transport treelings. Shao'f bereaved at the death of her father and her mother disappeared at the day of Jeo'f burial. Mother Sareece had adopted her after her parents were gone and now it was her first mission to help mother Sareece distribute the world trees.
"I cannot fail" the illura clenched her teeth to keep her emotions from showing.
The sinorues had attacked Pluros a week ago and Shao'f, who saw the massacre, hibernated in the cave and waited for human rescuers. Shao'f rarely foraged for food and didn't need any for she can get sunlight from the only sun of the human planet. Shao'f knew that there was food and shelter in the human city but did not dare to risk her life in case the misanthropic aliens were still there. The aliens spared nobody and they would not hesitate to kill an illura allied with the humans. There was no sign of life on the forsaken planet except from furry crickets screeching at night time. The sound comforted Shao'f and memories of her father came back to her mind.
When Shao'f was a little girl, her father used to tell her to be optimistic and told her that a smile always brings you luck. "A smile, unlike a frown acts like a cup and keeps your luck from falling" her father had said to her. When Shao'f reached ten, her father had led her around his Cabbage fields and taught her about planting trees. Her father had caught her furry cricket as a birthday present and Shao'f adored the little pet. The cricket had been put in a cage but it hadn't seemed interested in escaping as long as it had enough food.
Shao'f heard someone walking into the crystal cave. Her heavy eyelids opened and she jumped to hide in a dark corner of the cave. Her reflexes were not quick enough to hide her from the intruder and the crystal walls reflected her image. Shao'f gave up and walked to the unknown living-being. To her amusement, a human…